The Valentine's Dance
by Puggal
Summary: When the Valentine's dance is being held, everybody is excited, including Lizzie. This is her chance to get a date. But before the dance, she's in for some surprises, including a secret valentine, and a new crush, who just so happens to be the new guy.
1. Chapter One: The Cute New Guy

Author's Note: This is my first Lizzie McGuire FanFic, so please keep that in mind when you review. I've been watching the show since it first came out, so I think I can write a good story, though. I hope you like "The Valentine's Dance", and all I am asking for is reviews!

The Valentine's Dance

Chapter One

Have you ever had one of those days that just didn't seem to go your way? Well, when you're in junior high, you have plenty of them. And when you're me, you always seem to have a day that just really made you want to give up. Well, today wasn't exactly like all those other usual days. It wasn't like those days where that cute guy in English class catches you staring at him, and he writes you a note saying that he only likes you as a "friend." It wasn't that kind of day where that popular snob, also know as Kate, found some way to embarrass you in front of your crush. It was just a really weird day. And I'll explain everything, from the moment it all started. And surprisingly, it started in my bedroom.

When you're in eighth grade, you have to have a decent wardrobe. You can't go around wearing clothes that aren't half-way decent. I remember in seventh grade, I wore this polo shirt that my Aunt Gina had bought for me. I thought it was really cool, mainly because it was stretchy and kind of tight and it was different. I thought it was vintage. But when I got to school, boy, Kate and Claire had a field day with that one. I love that polo, but it's in the back of my closet now.

I had had my outfit all ready picked out-a really cool pair of jeans that I had bought from Intuition 101 and my favorite pink top. Total girly girl, yet fun and chic at the same time. But when I put the top on, which I had bought at I really expensive store at the mall, I saw it had a big stain on the sleeve.

Groaning, I knew my outfit was ruined. The jeans wouldn't go with anything else. Yeah, they were jeans-they would go with anything. But the top matched so nicely with these jeans. I was so bummed when I saw that my favorite top was ruined. Sighing, I ripped the top off and threw it in my closet. Rummaging threw my closet, I knew I didn't have many options.

I found a dark-pink tie-dye top that had some cute rhinestones on it. I held the top up. It looked almost like my other one, except this one looked too seventh grade. Sighing, I put it back on it's hanger, and kept searching. Even though I had plenty of clothes, I felt as if I had none. I needed a new wardrobe, asap.

Suddenly, Matt bounded into my room, the phone in his hands. "Miranda's on the phone!" he yelled, cereal in his mouth. I grabbed the phone from him.

"Why would she call on the regular phone?" I asked him.

"Dunno", he replied, sticking his tongue out.

"You're gross", I told him.

As Matt left, I put the phone to my ear and greeted Miranda, "Major fashion 911. The shirt I was planning on wearing today got stained. I have no other tops to wear. What should I do?"

"Nice way to greet your bff", Miranda teased. "Anyway, just chill, Lizzie. It's only Thursday. Nothing is really happening. Just find a cool top that goes with those jeans", she said.

"Miranda, I have to look decent", I told her.

Miranda was quiet for a minute. "Wear something black. Black is sophisticated. And with black, you can wear a lot of jewlery and you can wear extra make-up", she finally said.

"You're brillant!" I exclaimed. "I can wear my polo-the one from seventh grade-and my really cute pink studded belt. Totally cute blonde meets skater chick", I told her.

"Totally awesome", Miranda replied, "but what about shoes?"

"I'll figure it out", I said.

Miranda and me said our goodbyes, and I went right back to my closet. Digging through the mess, I found my old black polo shirt. Smiling, I decided that this was going to be a hit, now that I was in eighth grade and black was very sophistcated. I pulled off my pajama shirt and put on my polo. It was kind of tight, and it exposed a little bit of my midrif, but I looked pretty cool. I pulled on my jeans and I decided that I looked even cooler.

I decided that I'd wear my Etnies sneakers with the outfit. I didn't wear them much-I had gotten them as a present from Miranda. I had never really been into the skater/punk look, but I really thought this look looked cute on me for today.

I brushed my hair and put on my make-up. I put some of my favorite jewelry, and I decided that I had the perfect look. Whenever you had a fashion 911, Miranda was the girl to call. She could help you, no doubt.

I ran down the stairs to be greeted by stairs from my mom, dad, and brother Matt. My Mom looked absolutely horrified. "Lizzie, what have you done to yourself?" she asked me, nearly dropping the bowl of fruit that she had been carrying to the table.

"Um, nothing Mom", I told her.

"Honey, why are you wearing that teeny-weeny Britney Spears shirt and those odd shoes?" Dad asked, eyeing me.

I glared at them. "My favorite shirt got stained, okay! I didn't have anything else to wear!" I snapped. "And these shoes are called Etnies, by the way. They were from Miranda."

"Yeah, well, I don't like them", Dad said in a hushed voice. "They look suspicious."

And these were my parents. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed a granolla bar and said to them, "I'm not changing. It's warm out today; it's in the fifties. I'm bringing a sweat-jacket, so don't worry about me exposing myself", I muttered.

"I really don't like those shoes, Jo", Dad said to Mom. "They-"

Matt snickered. "Sam, the shoes are fine. "It's the outfit that's worrying me", Mom said, eyeing me.

I was relieved when it was time to catch my bus. Leaving the house, Matt said to me, "You look like one of those freaks that I saw at the skatepark with rings in their faces."

"Shut up, Matt", I snapped at him.

When I saw Miranda at the bus stop, I waved at her, a smile on my face. She grinned at me, examning my outfit. I guess she liked it, because when I walked up to her, she said, "Lizzie, you should dress like this more often!" she declared.

"Huh?" I said.

"It is so much better than your regular outfits", she told me as we boarded the bus. "You really look awesome."

I didn't know if that was a compliment or an insult. Was she insulting my old outfits, or was she complimenting my new outfit? I really didn't know how to take it. 

We took our usual seat near the back. She was talking about some concert downtown that she was trying to convince her parents to let her go see, and if they agreed, she wanted me to come, too. Of course I wasn't really paying attention. I was concentrating on the new guy sitting in the seat across from us.

"Lizzie, are you even lisening to me?" Miranda snapped.

"Oh, yeah", I said suddenly.

"Are you staring at something?" she whispered.

I nodded. I tilted my head towards the guy sitted across from us. Miranda grinned. Even she couldn't help but stare a little. The guy looked to be very tall, and he was realy thin. I saw that he had dirty blonde hair that was on the long-ish side that fell into his face. His eyes were an amazing shade of blue, and I noticed he was dressed all in black.

"He's really hot", Miranda giggled. "I bet Kate will be all over him."

I glanced over at him. Not if I get to him first, I thought.

"You won't believe this", Gordo told me as I was searching for one of my homework papers in my locker. He came running up to me, breathless.

"You won't believe this. I just found out that we're going to have a Valentine's dance", he said.

I stared at him. "Really? How'd you find out?" I exclaimed.

Gordo smiled slyly as he handed me a red flyer. "I've got big time connections, babe", he said.

I stared at the flyer. Hearts were printed all around it, and in big bold letters it stated all the information about the dance. I grinned at Gordo. "Where did you get this?"

"I was joking, Lizzie. I got mine in study hall. They're all over school", he said.

I grabbed some papers out of my locker and stuffed them into my backpack. Hopefully they'd be the right ones. I was tired of searching. I slammed my locker shut and said to Gordo, "This is so awesome. It says couples only, too! This is going to be great, Gordo."

Gordo blushed. "So, who do plan on going to the dance with?"

"I'm not sure", I said. "I mean, I just found out about it now. And don't the guys ask the girls?" I joked with him. "Anyway, I'll see you at lunch."

As I was walking to English class, my binder and my papers in hand, I felt somebody bang into me, sending me crashing onto the floor. My papers went everywhere, and my binder spilled in front of me. I hit my elbow hard, and I tried not to cry out in pain.

"Are you okay?" I looked up and saw the guy from the bus.

My heart nearly skipped a beat. "U-uh, yeah. I'm fine", I stuttered. And to my surprise, he helped me up. "You sure you're okay?" he asked in concern.

"Yeah", I said, trying not to smile.

"Good", he said. "Hey, where are you going?"

"English. Room 201", I replied.

"Hey, me too. Let's pick up your stuff and let's go together", he smiled shyly.

My heart was melting. We both bent down to pick up my binder at the same time, and we bumped each other's arms. "Sorry", I told him, blushing a little.

"No prob", he said cooly. When we were got to English, we found that we had a sub.

"Your teacher wanted me to inform all of you that we have a new student named Brayden Lenihan. Brayden, come on up and introduce yourself", the sub said.

Brayden stalked up to the front of the room. He murmured, "Uh, I'm Brayden, I transfered from private school. I like skateboarding and music. I play guitar and I really like to write music", he said.

The sub nodded. "Any questions for Brayden?"

Kate raised her hand. "Do you have a girlfriend?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.

"No", Brayden said firmly.

"Well, I'm single!" she said loudly. Brayden ignored her. When Brayden got to his assigned seat, which was in front of me, my heart skipped a beat. As the sub handed out a worksheet, I found myself thinking, this is the guy I want to go to the dance with.

Author's Note: This was just chapter one. Hmm, new guy. You know what that means! Anyway, look out for updates! 


	2. Chapter Two: Secret Valentine

Disclaimer: I don't own Lizzie McGuire. If I did, this would be an episode already.

Chapter Two

Out of all my subjects, lunch was my no doubt my favorite of them all. In the morning, I very rarely ate breakfast, so by lunchtime, I was starving, and besides that, talking to Miranda and Gordo for thirty-five minutes was just awesome.

Everybody at our school knows that the food isn't exactly gourmet. So that's why I bring my lunch most of the time. But today I decided to buy, and I really wish I hadn't, because it would have spared me major embarrassment.

Anyway, I was standing on the hot lunch line, just as I'd normally do, when I felt somebody poke me in the back. I turned around and saw Kate standing there, in her teeny miniskirt and crop top and heels. "Nice outfit, McGuire. Are skateparks your new thing?" she said. Claire, who was standing behind her, burst into laughter.

Blushing, I gathered my lunch quickly. Why couldn't Kate just leave me alone? All because she was pretty and popular didn't mean she had to make me miserable.

As I was paying for my lunch, Kate whispered to me, "There's something on your pants, Lizzie."

Panicking, I turned around to look at my pants. I forgot that I had my tray of food in hand. The tray went flying, and the tray hit Brayden right in his face, spagetti sauce staining his hair.

My face turning dark red, I couldn't bear the sight of kids laughing at me and what Brayden would have to say to me. Kate was smirking at me, and when I saw that there was nothing on my pants, I ran.

"Lizzie, what's the matter?" Miranda asked me as I got to the table. Gordo was sitting there, adding something up on his calculator.

Tears in my eyes, I explained everything to her as I sat down. I didn't feel like eating anything, but she handed me a piece of her big cookie. I nibbled on it, even though it wasn't that good.

"Kate is such a witch", Miranda exclaimed. "I hope nobody asks her to the dance!"

"I'm sure Ethan will", I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you like Ethan?" Miranda asked, surprised.

"Um, yeah, I guess so", I lied. Now that I had met Brayden, I was completely over Ethan.

"Listen, Lizzie, I'm sure Brayden will be cool about the whole spagetti thing. He does seem like a cool guy", she smiled, dipping her fry in some ketchup. "I mean, it wasn't your fault that Kate pulled the whole there's-something-on-your-pants thing."

I sighed. So much for Brayden even thinking that I'm a decent person. I mean, seriously, if I'm not physically balanced, why would he want to take me to the Valentine's dance? No guy would want to take a girl who threw their lunch tray in his face, accident or not.

"The dance is getting big", Gordo stated. "Last period, everybody was talking about it. My calculations conclude that just about everybody who can recieve a date by the Valentine's dance will be going to the dance", he said, rubbing his chin. "Unless of course Kate declares the dance 'uncool' or something like that."

"The dance seems pretty cool, but the whole 'couples only' thing isn't. I mean, what if we can't find a date by the dance? Or worse, what if we can't find a date at all?" Miranda asked, paranoid.

"Miranda, we'll find dates", I said cooly, even though I wasn't so sure I was going to be able to find a date of my own.

"The dance isn't just about getting dates-" Gordo interrupted. Both me and Miranda ignored him, politely. Gordo simply didn't understand how important this was.

"Hey, Lizzie, are you up for a little challenge?" Miranda grinned.

"Sure", I said, my stomach twisting into knots. I knew this 'challenge' was going to involve the dance and dates.

"Whoever can find a date first before the dance gets that new miniskirt from Intuition 101", Miranda said finally.

I gulped. Miranda knew that she could easily score a date before me. She also knew that I had been wanting that skirt for weeks. "Um, sure, okay", I said uneasily.

"Great", she said. "I'm out for both Brayden and Ethan. What about you, Lizzie?"

I could feel my face getting pale. Was she nuts? She knew that I liked Brayden. It was against the bff rule of conduct to try to score a date with your bff's crush. It just wasn't right.

"I'm out for Brayden", I said suddenly. And I wish I hadn't.

"Brayden?" Gordo said, staring at me. "He isn't exactly an Ethan, Lizzie."

"So?" I asked Gordo. "He's really sweet. And hopefully he doesn't hate me now."

Gordo shook his head. "I heard him talking to Larry Tudgeman in studyhall. Yeah, Larry. Shocking. New kids usually have no brains on the first day. Anyway, I heard Larry ask him if he had anyone in mind for the dance. And Brayden said he had never been to a dance before, and girls made him nervous."

Miranda snickered. "So, what, is he gay?"

"Miranda!" I snapped. "You're so immature sometimes."

"Girls make him nervous? Okay. I'm sticking to Ethan", she said, fixing one of the barrettes in her hair.

"You'd be better off just sticking to that air-head", Gordo said, rolling his eyes. "Who knows what this Brayden guy has up his sleeve, Lizzie?"

I didn't look at Gordo. The truth was, I wasn't exactly sure what Gordo had up his sleeve, either.

It was the end of the day, and I was at my locker, as per usual. Miranda had forgotten her social studies homework, so she had to stay a few minutes after class to 'talk' with our teacher. Gordo was nowhere to be seen; he was probably just traveling the halls, or maybe he was stuck in his last period class, too.

I opened my locker, and to my surprise, there a piece of pink and red folded paper on top of one of my textbooks. How had that gotten in here? Picking it up, I unfolded it, and read it carefully. In beautiful script handwriting, it read:

Dear Lizzie,

From the moment I saw you, it was love at first site. Do you believe in love at first site, Lizzie? I really hope you do. I think you are the most beautiful girl here at Hillridge Junior high, and I'd want nothing more this Valentine's Day for you to be my date for the Valentine's Dance.

-Your Secret Valentine

I reread the pink and read heart just about fifteen times. I couldn't believe this. Somebody at Hillridge actually liked me? Somebody actually thought I was beautiful? Somebody actually wanted me to be their date for the dance! Hugging the heart close to my chest, I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. I didn't even realize when Gordo tapped me on the shoulder.

"Uh, Lizzie, are you okay?" he asked me. "You look a little dazed."

I shot him a big grin. "Look at this", I told him, giving him the heart. He read it, and he gave it back to me. "I wonder who 'Your Secret Valentine' is", he said simply.

I shot him a look. "Gordo! This is big! I mean, somebody likes me! Somebody wants to take me to the dance! Somebody is like, in love with me!" I nearly shouted at him. "It could be Brayden."

Gordo rolled his eyes. "Lizzie, don't get your hopes up. Brayden's the new guy-I doubt he'd be writing love notes to a girl he doesn't even know", Gordo muttered, walking off.

"Gordo! Gordo, wait!" I cried. Standing there, shocked at Gordo's reaction to the whole situation, I stood there, watching him walk away, fading into the crowd.

Author's Note: I haven't gotten any reviews yet ): Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Hmm, who could have written Lizzie the valentine? Was it Gordo? Brayden? Or maybe it was someone else. Anyway, keep reading, and PLEASE REVIEW! 


	3. Chapter Three: A New Suspicion

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! I'm really glad everybody likes the story so far! I hope you like this chapter, and like I said before, PLEASE keep reading and reviewing.

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Lizzie McGuire.

Chapter Three

Even though flyers for the Valentine's dance had only been given out two days ago, everybody was already going crazy. Of course, this was to be expected, since this was our first boy-girl dance. But what I didn't understand was why everybody, including Miranda, was going crazy over the whole date thing. Sure, it was important, since the dance was a couples-only dance, but was stress over it? That's what I was thinking. I had other things to think about, namely Brayden Lenihan.

Of course, I was still thinking about the dance. And of course, my secret valentine. Who could have written me that mysetrious, yet romantic red-and-pink heart? I had to admit, I found it toally romantic, and that was on my mind constantly, too. What if Brayden was my secret valentine? What if he wanted to go to the dance with me? It would be perfect, me and Brayden going to the dance together. Kate would be so jealous.

But I found myself thinking, what if somebody like Larry wrote the valentine, instead? Or what if my valentine was some weirdo that was obsessed with poetry and didn't have a life at all? There wasn't anything wrong with poetry, but some guys that wrote poetry nonstop were just...strange. And sometimes, I even found myself thinking, what if Gordo was my secret valentine?

From the way he reacted, maybe he was. But maybe he wasn't. Gordo was my best friend, and he was just out to protect me. He didn't want to see me get hurt by some guy. But Gordo had made it obvious to me before that he liked me as more than just a friend...so did he write the valentine, or not?

I wasn't sure, and I wasn't sure if I wanted my secret valentine to be Gordo. Gordo was my best friend, but did I want to go to the dance with him? I wasn't so sure. I want to go to the dance with Brayden. But if Gordo had given me the valentine, what was I going to do?

"Lizzie! Breakfast!" Mom called from downstairs. Sighing, I grabbed my new Simple Plan CD, which I had promised I'd let Miranda borrow. I hadn't even liked it that much, anyway, so if she liked it, I was going to let her keep it.

I ran downstairs, sitting down at the table. Again, I felt all eyes go directly on my outfit. What was wrong with my parents? What was wrong with dressing a little skater?

"What?" I said, annoyed. I grabbed the carton of milk and poured it into my bowl of cereal.

"Sweetie, why are you dressing so-differently?" My mom said, as nicely as she could.

"She's dressing", Matt said, coughing, "Like a poser punk."

"Shut up, you little brat", I yelled at Matt.

"Both of you, stop it!" Dad warned.

I sighed. I liked the way I was dressing. Yeah, it was a big change from girly pink tops and skirts and tight jeans-but I liked it. Black tops and sweatjackets were cool. And ripped jeans were even cooler.

"Lizzie, I just don't understand", Mom said. "Why are you dressing like this?"

"I like it", I shurgged. Partly true. The real reason I was dressing in black tops, sweaters, sweatjackets, and ripped jeans was because of Brayden. I wanted to impress him.

"Yeah, well, we don't", Dad told me.

I rolled my eyes. "I have to go", I said, grabbing my backpack. I prayed that my parents wouldn't notice my ripped jeans. If they did, I knew they would make change.

"Elizabeth McGuire, I really don't like this new look, nor do I like this new attitude!" Mom yelled behind me. Ignoring her, I ran out the front door to the bus stop.

I saw Miranda standing there, as per usual. But what wasn't usual was that Miranda was dressed in a micro-mini and a barely there top. With my jaw dropped, I walked up to her, a shocked expression on my face. "Miranda!" I exclaimed. "What's going on?"

Miranda stared at me like I was crazy. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"You're outfit! Are you nuts? That skirt barely covers your thighs!" I hissed. As we boarded the bus, I watched as guy's eyes landed on Miranda. And one of those guys, shockingly, was Ethan Craft.

"Miranda, Miranda", he purred. "I see you're preparing for V-day, too", he grinned, winking at Miranda. Miranda blushed, and we took our usual seat. I glared at her, acting more jealous than I should have.

"Miranda, you look like a-well, you like a slut in that outfit!" I said to her.

Miranda blinked. "So? Look at yourself. You're wearing ripped jeans, which went out of style for girls months ago, and a black t-shirt and a black sweatjacket. Real impressive, Lizzie", Miranda snapped back.

I stared at her, taken aback. What was going on with Miranda? "What is going on with you? First the whole outfit thing, and now you judge me by my outfit? I really don't get it, Miranda", I said coldly.

"Duh, Lizzie! I figured if I dressed a little sexy, maybe the guys would be interested, and they'd ask me to the dance", she said. "I'm not afraid to reveal myself a little", she said, flipping her hair.

Things were uneasy on the bus ride to school. Miranda flirted with Ethan, which was a shocker. I bet Kate was really impressed with that. Everybody knew that she had been schemeing up a plan to get two dates to the dance-Ethan and somebody else. But nobody knew who that somebody else was.

Miranda went off with Ethan to homeroom-I didn't bother going with her. I figured I go off to my locker and see if Gordo was at his locker. If Miranda was going to be acting like this, I wasn't going to get in her way.

As I was walking toward my locker, I saw Gordo standing at his locker, a smile on his face, a girl standing next to him. As I neared closer, I saw that this girl was Parker. I gulped, knowing that Parker had probably just asked Gordo to the dance.

"Hi, Lizzie", Parker said sweetly.

"Hi, Parker", I replied.

"Guess what?" she said cheerfully.

"What?" I asked, glancing at Gordo.

"Gordo's going to be tutoring me in math! I just don't get decimals at all, so he's going to tutor me! Isn't that great, Lizzie?" she said, twirling a strand of her silky brown hair between her finger. I noticed she was dressed in a pretty, dark pink ruffled miniskirt that wasn't too short, but wasn't long, either, and pink-and-white layered tank tops. She actually looked really great.

Surprised, I said, "That's really great, Parker."

"I know", she smiled. "Soo, Lizzie, are you going to the dance with anybody?"

I gulped. What was I supposed to tell her? I didn't have a date; yet somebody, a secret valentine, wanted to take me. I couldn't tell her that. So instead, I told her, "Not at the moment."

"Oh", Parker said, looking surprised. "You should find a date soon, Lizzie. The dance is one week away", Parker said, shooting a look at Gordo. Could she be more obvious?

Gordo slammed his locker shut, and then he turned to both me and Parker and said, "Well, I think we should be going to homeroom now. The halls are looking a tad bit empty, and I really don't want to be late", he said.

"Hey, lighten up, Gordo", I said, cheerfully.

"Yeah", Parker chimed in.

We said goodbye to Parker as she left for her homeroom. Parker wasn't that bad to hang-out with here and there. We all knew that she had a major crush on Gordo; the big question was, did Gordo like Parker? I wasn't exactly sure. He kind of brushed her off.

"Why did you brush Parker off?" I asked Gordo as we turned the corner.

"What do you mean?" he asked me.

"You know", I told him. "You brushed her off."

Gordo sighed. "Parker-very touchy subject", he said. "It's very hard to explain", he said quickly as we walked into homeroom. Our teacher was at her desk, sorting through a pile of flyers. I spotted Brayden sitting at his desk, fiddling with the black rubber bracelets on his arm.

"Want to sit next to me?" Gordo asked.

"No, it's okay, thanks. I think I'll sit next to Brayden", I said quickly, sending an apologetic look to Gordo. I saw Gordo frown, but he took a sit next to Miranda, and I saw them start to talk.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" I asked Brayden as I sat down in the desk next to him. It wasn't the best desk around; in fact, it was wobbly, it had a bunch of foul writing on it, and it was dirty. But I got to sit next to the guy of my dreams, so I didn't care.

"No, not at all", Brayden said cooly. He took out a piece of paper from his binder and started to write down something. I couldn't see what it was at first, but then I saw that he was writing song lyrics.

"You write songs?" I whispered.

"Songs, poetry, short stories. I write everything", he whispered back.

My heart nearly skipped a beat. My secret valentine had to have been someone who was a good writer and had a passion for writing-and for Brayden to be writing a song in homeroom, he had a passion for writing, all right.

"What's it called?" I asked him.

"Valentine's Secret", he told me.

My heart skipped about ten beats. Valentine's Secret. He had called his song Valentine's Secret. In my mind, Brayden was number one on my suspects list for the secret valentine.

Suddenly, the bell rang. I grabbed my backpack, and I hurried out of homeroom. I couldn't believe it. I had just asked Brayden a random question, and now I was one step closer to finding out who my secret valentine was. And now, just maybe, I was even closer to getting closer to him.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Yeah, it was a little dull at first, but I hope the ending excited you. Hmm, a song titled 'Valentine's Secret.' How suspcious. I'm not telling a thing! You'll have to read on to find out more. 


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